David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am extremely disappointed in what we have heard from the two government senators—I hope that Senator Singh does a better job. Neither of the government senators went to the trouble of actually addressing the issue before the chamber. Senator Cameron spent the first eight minutes of his 10-minute spiel attacking the man. He did not once mention the issue of the impact of the government's plans on business, small and large. He spent eight minutes attacking Senator Ryan. He spent eight minutes recounting past state­ments made by Senator Ryan and made no mention of what the government's plans will do to small business. It smacks of a govern­ment that is trying to hide from the challenge and divert from the issue. The last two minutes he spent talking about one submis­sion to the Senate Select Committee on Scrutiny of New Taxes. Senator Cameron, I am also a member of that committee—